1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to production line design and management techniques, and labeling and tracking applications and, more particularly, to system and method for the designing and managing of production lines, including serialization and complex production processes.
2. Description of the Background
In many industries, there exists a need to overcome complex logistical hurdles associated with product distribution. Currently, products are generally produced in large unit numbers with each unit meeting specific standards as to quality and amount, for example. Information attached to such “lots” includes amount, packaging attributes, label characteristics, and label content, for example. However, new demands for individually tailored drugs, tracking of individual ingredients, bottles, or the like, for example, make previously used forms of high level logistical control at the lot, batch, or pallet level unworkable or unacceptable.
More particularly, previous production line management and design is global consistency-oriented and non-modular. For example, items in a production line are a means to the end, wherein the end is, for example, providing a number of consistent units with respect to labels, volume, safety seals, lot numbers, or the like. Organization in such a manner does not lend itself to individualized, targeted, modular, or similar processes in production lines, such as in serialization, for example. In such cases where discrete units of information regarding individual items in a line are important, the treatment in the available art attempting to establish global consistency by batch or lot, rather than individual uniqueness by unit, fails to comport with more current production line goals.
Therefore, the need exists for a system and method that provides for the design and management of complex, individual or uniqueness-targeted production line environments, including serialization and like complex production processes.